The Roads We Take
by RetrougeWitch-ChangedAccounts
Summary: Kagome knew she should've listened and stayed away from that town, but she hadn't. She's forced to face off against the monster that lurks in her childhood and haunts her dreams. The memories that you bury are the very ones capable of tearing you asunder. Can everything truly end on a happy note in life? /Book-verse. Carlton/Kagome pairing.
1. Chapter 1

**_Summary: Kagome knew she should've listened and stayed away from that town, but she hadn't. She's forced to face off against the monster that lurks in her childhood and haunts her dreams. The memories that you bury are the very ones capable of tearing you asunder. Can everything truly end on a happy note in life?_**

 _Pairing: Carlton Burke x Kagome Higurashi._

Disclaimer: I do not own either series. Each belongs to their rightful owner.

Note:  
Book-verse.

* * *

Prologue

* * *

 _ **The blood under her fingers felt surreal. None of this felt real to her. It was almost like she was in a daze, and she refused to come out of it. It matted in her hair and dripped to hinder her sight.**_

 _ **No amount of scars dealt to her body and soul could compare to this. Her legs felt weak and her mind felt like the world was closing in on it.**_

" _ **Kagome!"**_

 _ **She could barely register her knees hitting the ground, let alone Carlton's shout of her name. A hand gently patted her head, a thumb tracing over the gash on the side of her temple with a tenderness that made her cringe back. The fingers fisted in her inky locks to keep her rooted in his grip.**_

" _ **Fight it all you want, but in the end, you'll be just like me." The icy words of her father resonated through her mind. "Nothing will ever erase the part of me that makes you who you are."**_

 _ **He sounded proud and pleased when uttering those words for the entire room to hear. Those were the words that got burnt into her mind and she felt the shrill nagging fear.**_

 _ **He couldn't be right, he just couldn't. But… what if he was? She remembered how easy it was for her to adjust to fighting and killing demons only a few years back. Surely, she hadn't handled it with grace, but it was something that hadn't brought her any strain to her mind or heart.**_

 _ **She couldn't find the words to deny his accusations. She couldn't find the words to say anything, actually. It was just silent on her end, and he let her go at last. She sank down on her knees on the floor, cupping her hands over her mouth as her fears crept up her spine and dragged her down even lower.**_

 _ **XXX**_

The night air felt brisk and invigorating as she continued to drive along the highway with her window half-way down. Despite how nice it felt to her, her emotions were running rampant through her veins. She didn't want to think of the fight that had erupted between her mother and herself, nor did she want to think of the aftermath it would have on their relationship- the information she had finally let spill.

She was furious, and rightfully so. Just as much, she was also heartbroken.

Her mother had become her best friend as she got older and matured while diving in and out of the past, yet she had hidden something so crucial from her for her entire life and it _stung_ like she had gotten stabbed.

Her deep blue eyes focused on the road in front of her. The prick and sting of tears welling up inside them made her blink to push them back. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on the road to no avail. She eventually had to pull over to the shoulder as the tears began to creep back up on her. She parked her car and buried her head in her hands as she finally let herself break down after the eventful last few days finally caught up with her.

While she wanted to batter her fists against the dash of the car until it physically hurt her, she only sat there while she cried. Slowly but surely, she was able to pull herself back together. She gripped the steering wheel tight, tight enough for her knuckles to turn white under the pressure.

After a few deep breaths, she opened her eyes again and stared out at the barren road in front of her.

She had been driving since getting off her flight, but she wasn't tired yet.

She sat there, and the memory of her fight with her mother crept back up on her. As upset as it made her, she wasn't ready to pull over at a gas station just to call and apologize. She was still furious.

" _It's official, I have the coolest big sister- ever!" Souta exclaimed as he slammed his hands on the clean surface of the countertop he stood behind. Brown eyes focused on the raven-haired girl, who stood with a slight flush to her cheeks at his sudden words. The chipper laugh that came from the woman standing at his side backed up his words._

" _I think that's a little bit of an over exaggeration, Souta," Kagome told him, shaking her head and brushing off his upbeat comment. "I didn't intend for it to become so popular… I just wrote it as a way to get everything off my chest from then."_

 _The center of their discussion was focused on the book she had written. It told the tale of her trips through the past, with very vague indications to the idea whether it served any truth to its words. With a little help from Sesshoumaru, it had ended up getting published._

 _It honestly amazed her at how popular it had gotten. It wasn't what she had expected._

 _Still… she glanced back to the letter resting on the countertop- one of the many she had received. A smile lifted her lips and she felt a strong burst of happiness course through her chest._

 _Even if it wasn't what she expected, it was still flattering. It made her happy to think that so many people enjoyed the tale she had shared. It was satisfying in its own way, as well._

 _She shook her head and turned her attention to the next envelope in the stack she had gotten, tearing it open with the letter-opener just like the other ones she had done moments before. Her eyes skimmed over it, and the smile on her face faded away slowly as she felt a wave of apprehension build up inside her._

" _I... " She glanced at the envelope the letter was sent in, seeing it addressed from a place called Hurricane, Utah. She recognized the name of that place. For a short while, they lived there before her mother took her back to Japan to move into the shrine._

 _The mention of a boy by the name of Michael produced a surge of unexpected sorrow inside her. She remembered that name, as well. He had been one of her friends back in Hurricane._

 _He and many other children had been murdered._

 _That was the catalyst for her mother leaving that place. The murderer had never been found, and she hadn't wanted to stay around due to that fact._

 _Kagome shook her head and read over the letter again and again. It was an invitation for her to return, along with other friends from them, to honor Michael's memory. There was a scholarship being made in his name._

 _Despite being gone for so long, she wanted to return for this reason. It didn't feel right not to go, not to her._

 _Her mother soon took the letter to read it, obviously curious by her daughter's abrupt silence._ " _I don't think you should go," Kun-Loon stated, but her tone sounded much more of desperation opposed to demand._

 _She felt a surge of defiance swirl up inside her, but she stamped down on it until it faded into nothing more than a numb throb. Despite doing so, she still managed a strong, "why not?" as a retort to the older woman's words. "I want to go."_

" _Kagome, it's been so long. That place... we left it behind. We shouldn't go back. It needs to stay in our past."_

" _That's your opinion on the matter," she countered as she stood up. "Michael was my friend. I should go back for at least this."_

 _The way her mother darted her gaze down and away from her made an odd feeling build up inside her. She did that only when she was trying to hide something from Souta or her. It wasn't something she did often, but it had happened enough for her to know what it meant._

" _You're not going back there, Kagome. That's final."_

" _Yes, I am," she argued back. "You were perfectly fine with Inuyasha yanking me back down the well over and over again._ This _is only a reunion to honor Michael's memory. Why don't you want me to return to Hurricane?"_

" _We're not discussing this," Kun-Loon said. "I said no."_

" _What are you hiding from me?" Kagome asked, folding her arms over her chest in unhidden agitation. "Don't say you aren't. I know you are."_

 _Those words seemed to take her mother by surprise the moment they left her mouth. She picked her head up with wide eyes, meeting her daughter's frustrated glare._

 _Kagome could tell she wanted to deny it, but she knew there was no point to do so._

" _I want you to know that I only hid this from you to protect you, Kagome," Kun-Loon said as she nervously wrung her hands in the front of her apron. "I never did it to hurt you. I need you to know that, okay?"_

" _What are you talking about?" That worry she felt began to grow stronger. However, it was all replaced by disbelief and hurt when her mother finally told her._

" _Your father. I don't know where he is, but I don't want you to run into him by accident or-!" Kun-Loon cut herself off when she realized Kagome hadn't said anything. She looked at her, only to feel her own heart break a bit at spotting the hurt gleam reflecting in blue eyes._

 _Those words caused her heart to pause for a few seconds, and her lungs let go of every speck of air she had been holding as a smothering haze forming in her head, and all the words she wished to say fell away from her tongue. Instead, the only thing she could manage as a small, timid "... what?"_

 _Kun-Loon flinched at the confusion-laced word, and a look of regret was suddenly displayed upon her face. For a moment she refused to look up from the ground to meet her daughter's stare, but, when she did, the ache within her chest only burned twice as worse._

 _A lost look now adorned the teenager's face, and a clear sheen of tears remained held back within her eyes, the glow highlighting the pain and confusion flashing through them. Souta had even halted all movement, and he had silenced his breathing to an immaculate rhythm as to not disturb the conversation being hosted between the two women of his family. His eyes went from his mother to his sister as he tried to place who was more wounded by the sudden reveal of information._

" _N-no…" Kagome shook her head with denial after having a few seconds to think it over. "I know who my father was. I get that you don't want to tell me, but don't-"_

" _You and Souta have different fathers, Kagome," Kun-Loon cut into the rambling words of Kagome before they could go on any longer. Her voice sounded as though she was confessing to a secret she had held onto for far too long, and it stunned Kagome into a silence. "I just… I didn't see it working out between us, and I left with you back to Japan. Not long after, I met Souta's father, who was your step-father."_

 _Kagome could not see her own expression, but she could feel as it turned and twisted into one of disbelief and hurt. She couldn't believe the words she was hearing!_

" _Kagome, I-"_

" _Who is he?"_

" _I- what?"_

" _My dad," Kagome stated in a tone that was harsher than she intended for it to be. The whirlwind of emotions she felt continued to build up inside her, and she was finding it harder and harder to keep them bottled down and out of the way. "Who is he?"_

" _I can't tell you that."_

" _I have the right to know his name, at least!" she snapped back at her mother, despite her refusal to look back at her. Her words took on a viciousness she had only ever showed her half-demon companion and friend. "You can't just drop a bombshell like this and then refuse to tell me the bare minimum!"_

" _If I do, then you'll try to find him," she responded with certainty in her voice. That guess was confirmed by her daughter's next words._

" _What's wrong with that?"_

" _What do you remember about him?" Kun-Loon asked her, and Kagome thought about the man, only to pull nothing at all._

" _I… don't have any memories of him," she stated finally. No physical aspects, no memories of how he was with her, nothing._

" _I believe that is for the best," Kun-Loon told her, and she took a step towards her daughter, only to pause when Kagome jerked away from her. "Think of it as a gift. It's better if you don't remember him."_

 _Kun-Loon received no response as she watched Kagome turn on her heel and storm from the room. She wanted to go after her to console her, but she knew it wouldn't do any good._

Realistically, she could understand why her mother had never told her the truth when she was younger. After all… it wasn't as if she had any present memories of the man who was actually her father, so even bringing it up seemed to be a moot point.

The fact that she had waited until _now_ to even bring it up… _hurt_. To keep it from discussion when she was ten, she could understand, but waiting until she was almost eighteen? She was fighting demons since she was fifteen years old, so she could sure as hell have handled hearing the truth then!

Then there was her refusal to tell her anything about the man that was her real father. Those emotions had driven her to make a rash and unthought through decision, and that was to leave on her own in the middle of the night. For Utah, to be exact.

She called Sesshoumaru, seeing as he would be the only person who could get everything settled in the way she needed while she focused on gathering everything she would need. Plane ticket, car rental, hotel room, all of it. He took care of it for her without having her explain why it was necessity.

Kagome closed her eyes and let go of the breath she had been holding on to. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and glanced towards the map she had with her to guide her directions. Once she got a clear understanding of where she was going, Kagome nodded her head and started her car once again. She pulled back onto the road, and she continued on her way.

* * *

Auroua-chan: I honestly can't remember if I ever posted this one or not? It's one of those where I have a few chapters finished, but then I just kinda forgot about when things got busy. I'm changing it a bit, but I'm gonna be posting it because why not? I kinda like it, tbh.

This is set in the book storyline.  
Kagome as William/Dave Afton's daughter.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Hopefully I caught all the errors before posting, but, if not, apologies.

Please remember to Review&Favorite&Follow, thanks~

Bye for now.


	2. Notice

Auroua-chan (RetrougeWitch) here with a very important notice.

I'm leaving this account, and moving to a new one. You can find me at CrypticReverie. This account will no longer be updated/posted on.

There should also be a link in my bio that leads to my new account.

Bye-bye for now!


End file.
